EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: How High Court judge Sir Oliver Popplewell helped heal trauma of cellist Jacqueline du Pre love triangle daughter
Much more of her family's life has been exposed to public scrutiny than Clare Finzi would ever have cared for.
First came a book, Genius In The Family, written by her mother, Hilary, and uncle, Piers du Pré, and then in the film the book inspired, Hilary and Jackie, starring Emily Watson as the brilliant cellist Jacqueline du Pré, Hilary and Piers's sister, though concentrating less on Jacqueline's extraordinary talent than on her affair with Hilary's husband, 'Kiffer' Finzi.
The book tore open scars from Clare's childhood, while the film shattered her relationship with her mother and caused her to speak candidly about her father – a man, she said, who 'had several affairs', with women who were 'lost and unsure of themselves'.
But this week, the publication of a will prompts Clare, now 59, to pay tribute to the man she says who became and remained 'like a father to her' – High Court judge Sir Oliver Popplewell, who died last summer aged 96.
Popplewell, who in a celebrated libel case involving Olympic champion Linford Christie, inquired tongue-in-cheek what was meant by Christie's 'lunchbox', twice updated his will in 2021.
In each new codicil, he increased his bequest to Clare, finally leaving her £7,500 – three times the amount he bequeathed to his grandchildren, and markedly more than the £1,000 he left to his daughters-in-law.
Clare had, once, been one of those daughters-in-law.
But, as she explains, she and the youngest of Sir Oliver's four sons, Ed, divorced 15 years ago.
Much more of her family's life has been exposed to public scrutiny than Clare Finzi would ever have cared for
Oliver Popplewell, who in a celebrated libel case involving Olympic champion Linford Christie, inquired tongue-in-cheek what was meant by Christie's 'lunchbox', twice updated his will in 2021
Hilary du Pre and her husband Kiffer Finzi attend the gala charity premiere of the film Hilary and Jackie in January 1999
Her former father-in-law accepted this in his customary sanguine manner. Years earlier, he'd defended his godson, Stephen Fry, in court after the 18-year-old Fry had gone on a spending spree with a stolen credit card.
'I can say unequivocally that Oliver was always a fabulous support to me and my children,' Clare, who has three sons with Ed, tells me. 'He really behaved like a father to me. I miss him intently.'
His loyalty did much to heal wounds from what seemed an enchanted childhood, spent with three siblings in a ten-bedroom farmhouse overlooking the north Wessex Downs.
The idyll died when, aged six, Clare wandered into the spare bedroom often used by her aunt. Jackie wasn't alone.
In bed with her was Clare's father, who reputedly said nothing to his daughter – other than to point out that Jacqueline's breasts were bigger than her mother's.
Bewildered and traumatised, Clare became anorexic.
Then, aged 19, she met the Popplewells. 'Oliver and Margaret and Liz have always been my family,' adds Clare, referring to Sir Oliver's first wife, who died in 2001, and his second, Dame Elizabeth Gloster, whom he married in 2008.
'I'm very fortunate.'
Lily's sisterly cheer for Cliffhanger co-star
They play sisters in the forthcoming remake of Sylvester Stallone's 1993 blockbuster Cliffhanger.
And it seems Lily James and Nell Tiger Free are bonding off set, too.
This week, Downton Abbey star Lily, 36, attended the first night of Thanks For Having Me, a play starring Nell, at Riverside Studios in west London.
'Nell Tiger Free you are a sensation,' Surrey-born Lily gushes on social media.
Nell, 25, studied at Teddington School, a comprehensive also attended by Keira Knightley.
She and Lily, both pictured, play the daughters of Pierce Brosnan's character in Cliffhanger, a thriller about a mountain climber embroiled in the heist of a plane flying through the Rocky Mountains.
Nell Tiger Free and Lily James attend the press night after party for Thanks For Having Me at Riverside Studios on April 9, 2025
'Simple song' Rog bashes Brian
Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who wrote the hits Radio Ga Ga and A Kind Of Magic, bridles at guitarist Sir Brian May's suggestion that his songs were 'simplistic'.
His own contribution, Sir Brian claims, was 'to make the melodies work better'.
Taylor says: 'I'd take issue with quite a bit of that. That's a slightly arrogant statement to make.' Is Sir Brian still sore that Taylor's far from profound I'm In Love With My Car was chosen as the B-side to Bohemian Rhapsody, racking up equal publishing royalties to the chart-topper?
'He's never forgiven me. And I've never stopped laughing about it,' says Taylor.
Tied to the role, Em?
Emma Corrin was feeling hot under the collar at the screening of Hotel Reverie, a new Black Mirror episode in which the star appears.
Corrin, 29, who played Princess Diana in The Crown, demonstrated a quirky style, pictured right, in a Moschino blouse with three-collared tie accents, fixed with wire.
'I feel like a mouse in a microwave,' Corrin said at the BFI Southbank in London. In the seventh series of Charlie Brooker's dystopian show, Corrin plays an actress starring in a high-tech remake of a classic Hollywood romance.
Corrin watched 1940s films to prepare, saying: 'I was struck by how female actors had a specific way of holding themselves.'
Emma Corrin attends a special screening of Black Mirror Season 7's Hotel Reverie and Q&A at BFI Southbank on April 09, 2025
Watt and Elon are two peas in a pod
Brewdog co-founder James Watt, who married I'm A Celebrity winner Georgia Toffolo last month, has an estimated fortune of £250million.
And while he's some way from catching up with Elon Musk, who is listed by Forbes as the world's richest billionaire, Watt, 42, claims they share the same attitudes to work.
Writing online, he cites Musk's employee guidelines: 'Excessive meetings are the blight of companies – walk out when it's obvious you aren't adding value. Pick common sense as your guide. If a rule is ridiculous, change it.'
Perhaps he could also take a leaf from the book of his new wife, 30, who showed her resilience when she was covered in cockroaches in the jungle.
Brewdog co-founder James Watt claims he and Elon Musk share the same attitudes to work
Gwyneth's bedtime routine
Going to bed with Gwyneth Paltrow might be a dream for many men, but it sounds arduous for the Hollywood star herself.
'I've always been a firm believer in the importance of prioritising 'clean sleep',' she gushes.
'I'm serious about my bedtime routine, which involves getting into bed at 8.30pm and, lately, wearing mouth tape and Bluetooth earbuds with biometric sensing.'
Even those haven't done the trick, she admits: 'But still, like so many women in perimenopause, I've been struggling to get quality sleep.'
I recommend she listens to Meghan's new podcast.
No Chanel for Oxbridge
Chanel now sponsors the Boat Race, but the rowers of Oxford and Cambridge will not be wearing any of the French fashion house's scents when they battle it out on the Thames this Sunday.
'We have nothing,' wails Oxford University Boat Club women's president Annie Anezakis.
'No free fashion clothes, no smart watches and no perfume from Chanel.'
Speaking to me at the crew announcement at Battersea Power Station in London, she remains optimistic.
'It is supposed to be a long-term link with the race from them [Chanel], so hopefully athletes will get something in another year.'
